Monday, September 21, 2015

(My Word computer has bit the dust, and this is my first time posting anything over from OpenOffice. I apologize in advance for messed up formatting.)

The
Diary of Miss Aidyn Hall, friend of the Jadeites

August
15

10:42
AM

Today
Katie Met Apple Blossom

I
got out of bed, dressed, and went out to the mini forest. I had to
find a place that was far enough away from the magnolia archway and
far enough away from any sign of human civilization. Two days ago, I
told Apple Blossom that she and Katie could meet out there in the
mini forest. “Do you really want to meet Katie?” I had asked,
whispering so that Wildflower, who was sitting nearby and writing
away, would not express a desire to get involved. “Do you really
and truly want to meet her?”

“Yes,”
Apple Blossom said hastily, “but...only if you’re there with me.”
Her eyes darted around nervously. “Silly girl,” I said, tousling
her hair. “Of course I’ll be there with you! Do you think I’ll
just scurry off and leave you two alone?”

Of
course, Apple Blossom didn’t really think that. It was just that
she was beginning to have second guesses about meeting a strange
human, even if it was one that I knew personally. I assured her that
I would be right there, that she could stay close to me if she wanted
to, and that Katie would never know the location of the Greenwood.
They would meet for ten minutes and I would be timing them by the
clock. Katie would probably ask questions, and Apple Blossom would
not have to answer them if she didn’t want to. Also, she had to let
her mother and father know that she would be leaving the Greenwood
with me, but that we would not be setting foot in the human world (I
consider the mini forest to be a sort of borderland; not human, not
elven, just a world of its own). I would make sure that she would
return promptly after the ten minutes were up.

Apple
Blossom accepted these conditions, and when I called her up that
evening, so did Katie. She was practically bouncing off the walls (in
fact, I think I actually heard her bounce), screeching, “Oh my
goodness, I’ll get to see the elf? You’re gonna take me to see
the elf…a real, live
elf?!” She had certainly changed her tune about the veracity of
elves. “Don’t talk about her that way,” I told her. “She
isn’t ‘the elf,’ I told you her name is Apple Blossom. And you
won’t be there to gawk at her, do you understand? She wants to meet
you, and I assure you that
she will likely do most of the talking.”

Katie’s
lunch break is at twelve-thirty, so we’ll be meeting anywhere
between twelve-forty-five and one-o-clock. After that, I’ll be
going right to the Greenwood from there—after making sure that
Katie has fully cleared out, of course. So I have about an hour and
forty-five minutes to get some work done on the computer and pack up
my things.

1:35
PM

Katie
arrived at my house promptly at twelve-forty. I had was waiting for
her on the porch. “I brought lunch,” she said. “Do you think
the elf might want anything to eat?”

“If
you have grapes, she’ll definitely want some of those,” I told
her.

“Aw
man,” said Katie, “I only have strawberries.”

“She’ll
happily take those too,” I said.

I
led Katie down to the mini forest and to the sunny, flowery clearing
that I had selected for our meeting. I had told Apple Blossom to stay
out of sight until we arrived. “I’m here, Apple Blossom!” I
called out. “You can come on out now!”

Cautiously,
she emerged from behind a cluster of inkberry bushes, her wide eyes
fixed on Katie. She was wearing one of her good dresses—purple
chiffon, with the shape and design of a violet petal—and the flower
crown I had made her for her birthday. On her feet, which were
usually bare, she wore gold lace-up espadrilles. All of a sudden, I
felt hopelessly underdressed. Slowly, as if trying to avoid stepping
on hot coals, she crept over to us. She had none of the pep in her
step that she had at our first meeting; it had been her birthday
then, and she had been full of the excitement of the celebration. But
when she stopped at Katie's feet, she bounced on her heels a bit and
managed a cheerful, “Hello!”

Katie
was stunned. For a few moments, she could only stand there and make a
bunch of ridiculous gasping sounds, with her mouth hanging wide open
like it had become unhinged. Apple Blossom took a step back, and I
nudged Katie's shoulder. “You're scaring her!” I said sharply.

“I'm
sorry!” Katie said breathlessly. “It’s just…I can’t believe
that there is a real elf standing right in front of me right now!”
She knelt down to eye level with Apple Blossom. In her eternal good
nature, Apple Blossom smiled back. “Don’t worry,” she chirped,
“I’m real!”

“You
are real!”
Katie exclaimed, and she reached out to touch her face. Apple Blossom
yelped and took a few rapid steps backward, and I pushed myself
between the two of them. “Don’t touch her!” I hollered. “What
is wrong with you?!”

“I’m
sorry!” Katie said again. “I don’t know what’s come over me!
I feel as if I must be dreaming.”

“I
don't feel like a dream,” Apple Blossom said, peering out from
behind me. “though I suppose it doesn’t feel like anything to be
a dream. Are you Aidyn’s friend?”

“I’m
her best
friend,” Katie said, still a bit stunned to be speaking to an elf.

“You’re
her best human
friend,” Apple Blossom corrected her. “I’m her best Jadeite
friend. Do you see her every day?”

“I
used to,” Katie said bitterly. “I guess now she sees you every
day instead. What’s a Jadeite?”

“That
isn’t right,” Apple Blossom said. “You ought to see your best
human friend as much as you see me, Aidyn.”

“I’m
only one woman, Apple Blossom,” I told her. “Between my work and
Katie’s work and coming out here to see you and your friends, I’ve
been having a lot of trouble making time for her. Anyway, she just
asked what a Jadeite is, so why don’t you tell her?”

I
must have been afflicted with a serious case of the stupids to
actually come right out and say that in front of Katie. As Apple
Blossom explained Jadeites and tree elves to her, I could tell that
she was only half listening. The other half was seething. She looked
at me out of the corner of her eye, and I could read her thoughts.
One of the main reasons we became best friends is that we have an
uncanny ability to read eachother’s thoughts. Now, her thoughts
said, You can't make time
for me because you want to prance around in elf lands all day? You're
too busy for me, but not too busy for them? I
hadn't been going out of my way to see things from Katie's point of
view. I had disappeared for nearly a month, blown off all of her
attempts to reach me, and now I had this entire secret fantasy life
that she had been excluded from. Of course she was trying to push her
way in! She wanted to be a part of anything that I was a part of.
It's always been that way.

Unfortunately,
there's no safe way for her to do that. First and foremost, I have to
consider the well-being of the Jadeites and their Greenwood. Who's to
say that letting Katie in wouldn't set off a domino effect of human
after human? What if she let it slip to Janelle or Hannah and got
them interested? What if she let it slip to one of her co-workers?
And even if she didn't, I have a strong feeling that the king and
queen wouldn't take kindly to her being around, nor to me for
bringing her around. Apple Blossom could charm them into accepting
one human, but not another. It simply cannot be done.

I
hadn't done a very good job of checking my watch, because the next
time I did so, I realized that a whole fifteen minutes had gone by.
“Your time is up,” I said to Katie. “Actually, it was up five
minutes ago. You have to go back to work, anyhow.”

“Oh!”
she exclaimed. “Has it really been that long? You're right, I do
need to go back to work!” She turned to Apple Blossom and laid a
hand on her head.“Apple Blossom,” she said, “you are truly the
most interesting character I've ever had the pleasure to meet!”

“And
you are the second kindest human I've ever had the pleasure to meet,”
Apple Blossom replied with one of her characteristic smiles. “I'm
starting to think that the bad ones are really only stories.”

“Well,”
Katie said, “you be careful out there. There are some pretty nasty
humans in the world...but there are some pretty nice ones as well.”
She gathered up her things and stood up, brushing blades of grass off
of her jeans. “Bye-bye, Apple Blossom! You take care of Aidyn for
me, all right?”

“I
will!” Apple Blossom said with a giggle.

“Wait
for me by the bridge,” I told her as I began to lead Katie out of
the woods. I was suddenly feeling kindly towards Katie all over
again, and I felt bad that there was no real way that she could ever
be included in my adventures. Ever since we became friends, Katie had
been included in just about everything. Now, here's the first thing
that she has to stay out of and away from. I know that it makes her
heart hurt. I shouldn't have been so nasty about it.

6:17
PM

“Katie
is so nice, Aidyn. I don't understand why you don't want to be her
friend anymore.”

Apple
Blossom is one of those people who can either build you up to the top
of the world or bring you down to the level of an earthworm. She will
make an excellent queen someday. “Well, I've changed my mind about
that,” I told her. “Katie and I are going to go on being
friends.”

“That's
good,” Apple Blossom replied.

“But
you know that I can't bring her here,” I cautioned.

“I
know,” she said with a sigh. “But I wish you could.”

Beside
me, Wildflower was writing away. She had been so quiet that I had
forgotten she was there. “Are you sure we should be talking about
this in front of Wildflower?” I asked, lowering my voice to a
whisper.

“I
think so,” Apple Blossom said. “I think that Wildflower ought to
know that somewhere out there is another nice human, just like you.”
She lowered her voice to a whisper then, and said, “But she doesn't
need to know any of the details.”

I
looked at Wildflower, who was so absorbed in her diary that I wasn't
sure if she was even listening. That's why she surprised me when she
set her pen down for a moment, looked as us both, and said
enthusiastically, “I'm going to write
about the nice humans.”

“You
are?” I asked.

“I
am,” she said with a nod, and returned to her silent journaling.
And just like that, it all came to me like fireworks going off in my
brain. Wildflower wanted to write about nice humans—a subject that
was virtually nonexistent in Jadeite writing—and just like any
writer, she would need source material. Katie wanted to be included
in my adventures in the land of the elves, and I wanted a way for her
to be included without intruding upon the Jadeites' territory. Katie
was, at least according to Apple Blossom, a nice human.

Friday, September 4, 2015

King Lawrence had not been exaggerating
when he said that the celebration held in honor of the Knights of the Jewel was
one like Rasta had never seen before. The event managed to surpass the
coronation celebrations of Lawrence and all other monarchs before him that
the current citizens were able to remember the coronation celebrations for, as
well as the birth announcements of each heir to the throne that had been born
in their lifetimes. A feast and ball held in the palace and attended by the
country’s nobility, clergy, and those who had personal dealings with the royal
family was only the beginning, and only a fraction of the festivities that
spanned the course of three days. The eight knights were seated at the table of
the king and the princess, and Ion took note that the knights of Rasta were
seated at the table directly beside them. He would have liked to trade places
with Eluani, so that he might be seated where he would be more easily able to
speak with them. What he would have given to tell them of his many feats back
in Lamorak! But his rigid politeness in the company of royalty did not allow
him to ask to move.

Eluani herself could not have cared
less where she sat. The great dining hall with its shining silver chairs and
carved crystal dishes, the heaps upon heaps of abundantly flavorful food cooked
to perfection in various herbs, spices, and marinades, the silk and velvet that
she was clad in, and the company of nobles and kings were all much too
extravagant for her. It seemed so unnecessary to surround them with such
finery; knights or not, most of them were only ordinary people. Just two days
ago, Eluani had been a simple seer from the House of Sight, and though the
seers were much respected members of Calner’s citizenry, it would have been
unthinkable to shower them in extravagance such as this. Even the aristocracy
did not hold parties of this caliber, and the seers did not attend the ones
they did hold. As the jovial conversations carried on around her and the
knights were continuously toasted and complimented, Eluani only spoke when she
was prompted and said little. As her companions enthusiastically sampled just
about everything out on the table in front of them, Eluani only touched her
food—which was just a bit too flavorful—out of the obligation to be polite. She
knew that her life was in for a drastic change, and she had even been able to
anticipate exactly what sort of changes would come about. But now they had
arrived, and she was experiencing them all at once, and the effect was
overwhelming. Her only solace was in the quiet company of the priests and
mages, many of whom wished to keep to themselves as much as she did.

The night after that first day of
celebrating, when the knights had been thoroughly worn out with dancing and
feasting and conversation, they learned that their quarters were set up at the
Palace of the Jewel. Eluani could breathe easy then; the Palace of the Jewel
was haven of solitude, free from the hustle and bustle of this big city that
towered into the sky. It would be an ideal location to practice her craft,
which had been newly refined by the pink stone that the Jewel had given her. After
saying goodbye to the king and the princess and the guests that they had come
to enjoy the company of, the knights were shuttled out to the palace via
Carriage 1-A. Though she was exhausted by the day’s events, Lovisa remembered
the tip that she had promised to find for the valets, and they were rewarded for
their services with the two red roses that she had been given by a flighty
young earl. “There will be much more
than that,” Lovisa promised sleepily, “as long as you continue to treat us with
such kindness.”

The Palace of the Jewel was
unchanged from when they had left it that morning, and it was rather awkward to
be there without the princess, who knew the Jewel more intimately than they were
sure they ever would. Even so, Sanjaia, Lovisa, Alicia, and Rodin took the mind
to stop by its chamber to wish it goodnight and thank it for all of the
wonderful things that had happened to them upon their arrival. The Jewel did
not respond to this. It was one to speak when it had the mind to, not when
spoken to. The three of them were overcome with a pleasant, homey feeling as
they exited the chamber, as if something unusually comforting had just taken
place. They made their way to their quarters, which turned out to be quite easy
to find. Were these rooms made especially
for us, Lovisa pondered as she changed from her creamy gown into a
hyacinth-colored night shift, or have
they ever been used before?

“As nice as all of this celebrating is,” Troy said the next morning at breakfast, “we
really ought to focus more on training and less on partying.”

The knights were seated around a
silver table very like the one they had feasted at in the palace of Rasta,
though of course much smaller and simpler. Servants from the palace had brought
in a hot morning buffet and told them that they were expected back in RastaCity; there they would be taken through the
streets by a show coach, allowing the common citizens to behold the Knights of
the Jewel for the first time. “I get that we’re a big deal,” Troy went on, “but knights are soldiers, and
they’re treating us like showpieces. How are we supposed to find time to
prepare for the fight if they’re going to take out whole days for partying and
showing us around?”

“It’s to boost our morale,” said
Alicia. “It isn’t only Rasta’s spirits that they’re trying to keep up, but ours
too. After so much celebration, we’ll feel more ready for the fight than ever!”

“I feel ready for the fight anyhow!”
Ion said energetically. “I should have thought to ask the princess where our
weapons are located, but I was so swept up in the revelry that it slipped my
mind.”

“They’re locked up somewhere here in
the palace,” speculated Alicia. “We didn’t get a chance to see where everything
is.”

“Well, we should have time to find them
and to at least learn a little bit of how to use them,” Troy said. So after breakfast, the knights took the time
to explore. The Palace of the Jewel was a small palace that was unused to
accommodating guests, and yet it still had many more rooms, hallways, and
chambers than the knights had expected to find. There was a stable outside,
should any of them choose to keep a horse (Ion and Lovisa, who had already made
plans to find good horses, were delighted by this discovery). There was a tiny
kitchen attached to the dining hall that must have been meant for servants, but
the knights planned to use it themselves as much as possible—except for
Morgana, they didn’t feel very comfortable with allowing servants to wait on
them all the time. The front courtyard was narrow, but very organized and
decorated on both sides with boxy rosebushes and showy petunias and verbenas. A
wide, barren cellar was discovered through a back door at the end of the main
hallway. There were a few empty chambers that seemed to have no real purpose at
all. But a weapons hold was not to be found.

“They are here, though,” Eluani
mused, rubbing her temples with the tips of her fingers. “They are behind one
of those closed doors, and they will not be revealed to us until after today’s
celebration is over. So I suppose we’ll have to just get through that, and
hopefully we’ll still have time for training.”

“If you knew that,” Morgana snapped,
“then why didn’t you tell us before we spent all of this time searching, Miss
Future Sight?”

“Because it didn’t actually come to
me until a few moments ago,” Eluani retorted. “Besides, it’s beneficial for us
to get acquainted with our surroundings anyhow.”

“Maybe we could just ask for them,” Alicia
said, “and we could request a break from the festivities to do a bit of
training.”

“I doubt it,” said Morgana. “I’ve
found that it’s pretty futile to ask for anything from anyone in a palace.”

“Stop generalizing,” Alicia said.
“I’m sure if we were to ask Cordelia, she would think of something. She’s
already done so much for us. And I really want to see my weapons!”

It was Cordelia herself who arrived at
the Palace of the Jewel that afternoon to lead the knights into RastaCity. She had expected them to be dressed in
more silks, brocades, and tassels to be shown around the streets of Rasta, and was
quite taken aback when she found them in plain shirts, jackets, trousers, belts,
and mail. “Why aren’t you dressed yet?” she asked.

“We’re dressed for training,” Alicia
told her. “Cordelia, as much as we really do appreciate all of these
celebrations held in our honor—and we are
very much honored!—we think that it would be beneficial if we had more time to
train. You must understand this, as you know that so many of us will be
engaging in combat for the very first time. We would like to get properly
acquainted with the abilities that the Jewel has granted us, as well as ensure
that we have enough time to adequately learn to use our weapons. Will you and
your people allow us that?”

“I understand,” Cordelia said with a
nod, “and you’re right. I will ensure that there will be time for training. But
for now, the coach is waiting to take you around. The citizens have waited so
long to see you, and you will allow them that, won’t you?”

There was no time to change into
finery. “It’s better this way,” said Troy. “The citizens need to see us as the
soldiers that we are, and it’s hard to do that if we’re all dressed up like
dolls.” Their gems, resting in white gold filigree, were already fine enough
for anything. Once again, they were led through the pristine bottom level of
the towering city, and it all seemed much less imposing than it had the day
before. The citizens were ready to welcome them with open arms, shouting, “Hey,
knights!” as they passed by. The knights returned their greetings in the best
ways that they knew how.

The coach, which was waiting for
them outside of the glassy gate of the palace, was a splendid white
double-decker vehicle with shining metal balconies built along the top layer.
The wide, square-shaped windows had no glass to obscure the wind or the eyes of
curious onlookers. The vehicle was hung with red and silver banners, and the
largest of them bore golden threads which read “RASTA’S KNIGHTS OF THE JEWEL.”
One by one, beginning with Alicia, they were escorted up the sunken metal stairway
leading into the vehicle, past a vestibule where the driver sat in the solitude
that they would not be awarded this time around. Morgana had already made plans
to curl up on the floor and refuse to come up until she was good and ready, and
Eluani decided that she would feel more comfortable if she did not have to
actually look at the crowd as she passed them by. Sanjaia, on the other hand,
ecstatically made his way up to the topmost balconies, overcome by the thrill
of an opportunity to perform for the largest audience that he was likely to
ever be faced with.

The knights took their places,
Cordelia took hers on the balcony at the head of the coach, and they were
ferried through the streets of RastaCity. The crowds gathered in huddles on all
sides of the roads seemed more fitting for a royal procession or a parade than
the mere introduction of eight knights. Those who had not been fortunate enough
to find a spot outside pressed their faces to the windows and congregated near the
doorways, and the coachman pressed a button that bathed the carriage in lights
that matched the eight colors of the Jewel, ensuring that it would not be
missed even by those forced to remain inside. In the upper layers of the city,
people peered over the railings and found places to stand on the stairwells.
Children were hoisted up onto the shoulders of adults so that they may behold
the knights for themselves. Sanjaia despaired of losing his ultimate audience
as the sounds of his harp were quickly drowned out by shouts, whistles, and
applause.

Time passed by, and the single-coach
procession showed no sign of drawing to a close. At around two in the
afternoon, the coachman announced through a loudspeaker that there would be an
intermission so that the knights may be served their lunch. We don’t need an intermission, Troy thought in dismay, we need to finish this up so we can get to our freaking training! The
lights were turned off, the coach was pulled into a carriage station, and they
were driven to the very back so that they were properly secluded from the crowds.
Troy confronted Cordelia on the steps down
from the topmost layer of the coach. “How much longer is this going to be?” he
asked irritably, and felt immediate remorse for speaking so harshly to a
princess. “I mean, I know you want us to see all of your people, and that’s
really very nice of you. But you said you’d make sure we had time to train, and
quite frankly, that’s much more important.”

“And who’s to say that this isn’t
part of your training?” Cordelia asked with a conspiratorial smile. Troy thought that she would have made more
sense if she had told him that she was an alien. In fact, it would have
explained a lot. “It isn’t,” he insisted. “What kind of combat experience are
we getting from being paraded around the city?”

“Do you think that combat experience
is the only part of training?” Cordelia asked.

“No,” said Troy, “of course not. But I don’t see how
grand processions through the streets are any
part of it.”

“Troy,” said Cordelia, “the Jewel isn’t all
that you will fight for. The Jewel is the guardian of Rasta, and so any enemy
that threatens it threatens Rasta as a whole. If the Jewel were to go down, or
if it were taken away from us, the entire kingdom would suffer. Each and every one
of the people that you saw in the crowds today—the children, the mothers, the
scholars, the shopkeepers, all of them—would suffer. Now that you’ve seen what
you must fight for, does it not inspire you to give all that you have to the
fight? Will you not fight for their smiling faces, their joyous cries, their
spirits full of faith in the knights they are counting on to defend them?”

“Of course I’ll fight for them,”
said Troy. “It’s what we’re here for.” In the
Arcadian military, training consisted of long hours and long days getting to
know the battlefield in its entirety. There was the firing of rifles against
target after target, the dispatching of swords against one thickly-constructed
training dummy after another. There was the rehearsal of protocols and the
familiarization of defensive maneuvers down to the letter, repeated until the
procedures became as natural as breath and sleep. There were seemingly endless
drills out in the hot sun that very often took up entire days. Troy knew his rifle as if it was an extension
of his own body. The Arcadian combat maneuvers and defensive tactics had been
ingrained in his mind to the point where it seemed as though there never had been
a time when they were unknown to him. Of course, his fight was powered by love
for his beloved Arcadia. It was love for his country that had
inspired him to enlist in the first place.

But there was love for one’s
country, and love for one’s people. The Arcadian military had motivated Troy to fight for a faceless entity that he
loved, but did not truly know. Now,
as Rasta’s Knight of the Onyx, he was not only trained fight and protect, but
to know the people that he must fight for. A country’s strongest connection
was, of course, through its capital city. The Arcadian military would have seen
such a thing as an unnecessary frivolity in the way of preparing for war. But
as Troy remembered the hopeful smiles, the
energetic cheers, and the eyes full of faith, hope, and support for the new
knights, he realized that they had been preparing for war this entire time. And
as the princess had expected, he was more inspired than ever to fight for each
and every single one of those faces, and all of the rest that he had not gotten
a chance to see.

The procession ended at dinnertime,
and the princess accompanied the knights’ return to the Palace of the Jewel.
The enjoyed a hearty meal in the palace’s comfortable solitude, but the day’s
excitement had not worn off.

“I must say,” Lovisa said between
bites of spice cake, “Rasta is one of the very nicest countries I’ve ever had
the pleasure to visit. Then again, I’ve never been to any place outside of
Eridell. But even if I had, I’m sure that Rasta would be one of the nicest.”

“It’s certainly the showiest,” said
Sanjaia. “Two eyes and two ears are simply not enough in a place where the city
lights up and touches the sky!”

“I’m happy to hear it,” Cordelia
said warmly. “But there’s so much more to Rasta than its capital city, and I
hope that someday you will get to see it all. It’s my good luck that someday I
will be queen of a country as lovely as my Rasta. But, you know, a good amount
of that loveliness is on account of the Jewel.”

“The Jewel is a true wonder,” Rodin
said rapturously. “I’ll do all that I can to protect it, even if it means I
must give my own life.” Back in Shalorre, where his biggest daily threat was
the horseflies that bit at his face and arms in the fields, he would have never
thought to say a thing like that. But now it seemed all right, and even
natural.

“So you are all ready to fight,” Cordelia
said, and it was not a question. “I was always ready to fight,” was Ion’s
response, “but I never thought that I could be even more ready, until I saw
Rasta’s capital for what it was.”

Cordelia rose from her seat. “Come
with me, then,” she said, “and I will show you to your weapons.”

“Well, allow me to show you where
you ought to have looked,” said Cordelia. The knights followed her in an
orderly fashion as she led them through the halls of the palace, and out of an
unimportant-looking side door that Rodin had discovered and immediately
forgotten about during their search that morning. The grassy walk that this
door opened out on led them to a rusty brown door that Cordelia inserted a key
to open.

“Your weapons,” Cordelia told them,
“were crafted by the same weaponsmiths that constructed those of our own
knights, as well as the master mages, the most adept bards, and the finest artisans
and craftsmen in Rasta. Without the Jewel’s blessing they would be quite
ordinary weapons, but with the Jewel’s blessing they will synchronize with the
abilities granted to you by your stones. Each weapon possesses a core, and each
core responds to a corresponding stone.” She pushed open the door and they
entered a wide, circular chamber laid out with cases, racks, and mounts of all
kinds. There were swords of all sizes bedecked with odd buttons and switches on
metal hilts, which contained glimmering stones in their centers. There were massive
shields painted with intricate patterns, which seemed much more for decoration
than for actual use. There were cases full of glittering rings and necklaces
set with polished stones. Staves mounted on the wall were carved with forest
scenes, airy cloudlands, and ravens with glassy dark eyes, all set around
glimmering stone cores.

Ion shook his head. “These weapons
cannot be for battle,” he said. “They are much too extravagant, too showy and
unwieldy.”

“Why don’t you test one out for
yourself?” Cordelia suggested.

Ion approached the array of swords
mounted along the right wall. He was not sure of which one was meant for him,
until he caught the gleam of a ruby-red stone emanating from the hilt of a
massive broadsword. Gingerly, he removed the weapon from its mount. The sword
was much heavier than any he had ever wielded, and he had to quickly grasp it
with both hands to keep it from toppling to the floor. And yet, he felt a surge
of sudden confidence in this sword. He had been drawn to it, and as he held it
in his hands and looked into the center of that bright red stone, he knew for
sure that it had been made for him and that despite its elaborate appearance,
it was meant for him to use. “It’s a peculiar sword, that’s for certain,” Ion
said to Cordelia, his voice strained slightly by the weight of the sword. “But
I’m certain that I can learn to wield it. I declare that this will be my
starting weapon! Where must I go to begin my training? Will we be going back
into the city?”

Cordelia shook her head. “You’ll be
training out here, in the fields nearby the palace.”

“And who will we be training under?”
Ion asked. “Will it be under the commander of the knights of Rasta?”

“No,” Cordelia said. “You will be
training under me.”

Cordelia had selected a meager
training foil, which had been situated on a much smaller rack in a corner of
the weapons holds. It was not too different from the training foils used by the
knights of Lamorak, and Ion questioned the sense of using it against his own
enormous broadsword. Cordelia stood six paces away from him, and the others,
waiting patiently with their own weapons, watched from the sides.

“Firmly grasp the hilt,” Cordelia
instructed, “and enter the basic stance. It looks like this.” She demonstrated
with her own training foil, which was needless; Ion already knew the basic
stance for a broadsword and she could not adequately copy it with her training
rapier. Ion tightened his grip around the hilt and began to lift, only to be
startled into nearly dropping it entirely. Cordelia’s rapier had changed right
before his eyes. The blade had extended, widened, and sharpened, and the hilt now
shifted and unwound to accommodate the new shape. Cordelia switched her stance
from a poor imitation to a flawless execution of the real basic broadsword
stance. Her feet shifted until they reached the correct position.

“How did you manage that?” Ion asked
in bewilderment.

“It’s a simple press of a button,”
Cordelia said. “Now go ahead and match my stance.” With a conspiratorial smile,
she added, “I know that you know how.”

Does
my own weapon allow for such transformations? Ion wondered as he eyed the
many switches on the hilt. The
possibility of many weapons in one, he mused, to change as circumstances may demand…why, there is nothing that could
catch me off guard! I would be an unstoppable force! Of course, such
affairs would be better addressed when it was less of a struggle for him to
hold up a sword that touched the sky.

About Me

I'm Star Nova, and I like to tell stories. This blog used to be more topical, but then just became a place where I could easily hold my stories. I have several short stories and two big works in progress, as well as some old crap and some pending revisions OF some old crap.
I write in order to share how I see the world, from my own perspective. If you're here, you're probably here from Tumblr or Twitter. I hope you like my stories. And if you don't, I hope you at least read them before you decide that. (: